Overloaded circuit blamed for Fitchburg fire, chief warns residents of dangers
FITCHBURG - Just days into the new year, fire ripped through a home on Charles Street in Fitchburg, leaving a family of eight without a place to live.
"When you go into the building after and see all their personal belongings damaged by this fire, it's really heartbreaking," said Fitchburg Fire Chief Dante Suarez.
The fire began Tuesday night, smoke and flames engulfed the entire basement with one resident left inside. Firefighters raced to save him.
"We had a report that somebody was trapped in the basement," said Chief Suarez.
The victim survived and was taken to the hospital with smoke inhalation. "He seemed out of it and it's really hard to take what they went through," said Chief Suarez.
Electrical fire danger
Chief Suarez said the cause of the fire was an overloaded electrical circuit.
"Whenever you plug way too many things into an outlet, if you're using a power strip and add way too many appliances, that causes an overloaded circuit," said Suarez.
A common issue in the cold, neighbors blasting heat, plugging in space heaters, overusing ovens in older homes that can't handle the pressure.
"That night I think the temperature was at 16 degrees. That circuit will heat up, it can damage the insulation on the wires which then causes spark, and can cause fires," said Chief Suarez, who explains that unfortunately, this isn't an uncommon problem for the Fitchburg Fire Department. They have responded to three electrical fires in the last two weeks.
"Electrical fires are the third leading cause of fires in the U.S.," said Chief Suarez.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, fire departments responded to an estimated average of nearly 50,000 fires involving heating equipment between 2018-2022.
Chief Suarez suggests unplugging any unused appliances especially when you're away from home and turning your heat off at night.
"Heating products themselves draw a lot of energy, and are a big issue," said Suarez.
The Salvation Army responded to Tuesday's fire to provide resources to the family.
